Arcade Fire, Backxwash, the Weeknd and more make the 2022 Polaris Music Prize long list
The annual award honours the best Canadian album of the year
The 2022 Polaris Music Prize long list is here.
As with previous years of the award, which annually honours the best Canadian album of the year, the Polaris long list features 40 albums that were selected by a panel of 197 Canadian jurors (which includes many CBC Music producers). In total, 223 albums were considered this year.
This year's crop of nominees include four previous Polaris winners: Arcade Fire (2011), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Haviah Mighty (2019) and Backxwash (2020). In addition to that, it appears that there are more returning nominees than newcomers, with only approximately 37% of the nominees being first-timers (including Chiiild, Luna Li, Kelly McMichael and Adria Kain). Other notable acts include R&B star the Weeknd, who makes his fifth long list appearance; four-time short list nominee Shad; and last year's shortlisted musician Daniel Monkman (Zoon) who scores his second nomination in a row, this time for his collaborative project with Status/Non-Status's Adam Sturgeon in Ombiigizi.
Eligible albums must have been released between June 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022. (Although albums released between May 1 and May 31, 2021, that didn't make the 2021 long list were also considered.) Judging is based solely on artistic merit, with no consideration for genre or record sales.
The Polaris Music Prize top 10 short list will be announced on July 14 as part of a two-hour special during Drive on CBC Music. The winner, who will receive a $50,000 grand prize, will be chosen by a grand jury and revealed at a live gala event in Toronto on Sept. 19. The nine other nominated acts will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music.
Last year, Edmonton-born rapper Cadence Weapon took home the title for his album, Parallel World.
Here are the 40 longlisted albums:
AHI, Prospect
Arcade Fire, We
Backxwash, I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses
BadBadNotGood, Talk Memory
Jean-Michel Blais, Aubades
Basia Bulat, The Garden
Tanika Charles, Papillon de Nuit: The Night Butterfly
Chiiild, Hope for Sale
Destroyer, Labyrinthitis
Julie Doiron, I Thought of You
The Garrys, Get Thee to a Nunnery
The Halluci Nation, One More Saturday Night
Joyful Joyful, Joyful Joyful
Adria Kain, When Flowers Bloom
Lydia Képinski, Depuis
Pierre Kwenders, José Louis and the Paradox of Love
Ada Lea, one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden
Lisa Leblanc, Chiac Disco
Hubert Lenoir, PICTURA DE IPSE: Musique directe
Luna Li, Duality
Les Louanges, Crash
Loony, soft thing
Kelly McMichael, Waves
Men I Trust, Untourable Album
Haviah Mighty, Stock Exchange
myst milano., Shapeshyfter
Cedric Noel, Hang Time
Ombiigizi, Sewn Back Together
Orville Peck, Bronco
Ouri, Frame of a Fauna
P'tit Belliveau, Un homme et son piano
PUP, The Unraveling of PuptheBand
SATE, The Fool
Shad, Tao
Sister Ray, Communion
Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Life After
Stars, From Capelton Hill
Tanya Tagaq, Tongues
The Weeknd, Dawn FM
Charlotte Day Wilson, Alpha
